Homeowner Nightmares: Stories of Finding More than You Bargained For

Most people are worried about furniture placement or paint color when they move into a new home, but sometimes homeowners can get more than what they expected.

Read these stories about homeowners that found some series issues with their new houses and how the handled the horror:

Mold Problem from Below

For the Luckett's, 2010 was shaping up to be a good year. They got married on Valentine's Day, and as they looked to start their family, they found what they thought was their dream home. But those smiles quickly turned to frowns when they discovered the first of many problems underneath their home.

The house was sitting on a mold-infested crawlspace and was quickly affecting their indoor air quality.

They soon realized the home of their dreams was becoming more of a nightmare...and with a brand new baby now in the home, IAQ issues became a quickly growing concern.

Watch the story on Waco's KWTX News 10 as AdvantaClean franchise owner, George McMillan, describes what he found when he entered the couple's crawlspace.

Not Your Average Duct Debris

Robert and Elizabeth Smith were newlyweds who purchased their 2,000 square foot home from another young family. The first improvement they wanted to make was replacing the central air handler because the system had low output and could not efficiently heat or cool the residence.

The AdvantaClean crew began to clean the downstairs system when they observed that nothing was coming out of the exit line and into the duct collection vacuum. "That was the first sign that this was an extremely unusual job" Kelvin, an AdvantaClean Tech commented.

A quick increase in output pressure from the air snake and several pieces of large debris quickly went knocking through the transparent vacuum tube and landed in the collection unit. Several more "thuds" of debris quickly followed. "This was odd", he explained. "We checked the collection unit and found a surprise that we had never encountered before - toys, lots of toys."

The duct cleaning continued and after it was all said and done the crew had extracted over 40 lbs. of toys, cosmetics and clothing from both the supply and return sides of the ductwork; "No wonder the HVAC system was inefficient. 40+ lbs. of toys and clothing will clog air ducts every time" commented Kelvin.

Hidden Room, Hidden Danger

Kerri and Jason Brown of Greenville found a secret room in their home behind a bookcase. The secret room contained a handwritten letter from the previous owner titled, "You Found It!"

The note went on to explain that secret room and home contained very hazardous mold, including Stachybotrys, the so-called Toxic Black Mold. The last family to live there got really sick and were forced to leave.

The Browns, who have a young daughter, were concerned. They understood the dangers of mold and quickly took action. View more of the story here.

Check out the AdvantaClean blog for more information on mold, duct cleaning, and more!